Rex Tillerson goes to Washington, gets mixed review

Former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson met with members of
Congress on Thursday. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del, said he was concerned by
Tillerson's close ties to Russia. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

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The U.S. nominee for secretary of state and former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson must address his close ties to Russia, a Senate Democrat said.

Tillerson and Exxon this week parted ways in
an effort to address potential conflicts of interest between his
financial ties to one of the biggest oil companies in the world and
becoming the nation's top diplomat. Having never served in public
office, the transition team said Tillerson is qualified based on his
ability to navigate geopolitical issues as a businessman.

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during an appearance on MSNBC he was concerned by Tillerson's close ties to Russia.

Tillerson worked closely with Russian oil
company Rosneft, a target of U.S. sanctions, and received distinguished
awards from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Coons said he was
concerned because protecting shareholder value and the interests of the
American people are two very different things.

"We talked at some length about whether he was
willing to embrace the use of sanctions if they are strong, if they're
multilateral, if they're enforced effectively for the advancement of
human rights and American interests," Coons said. "He was generally
positive in his response on that."

Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican, was less cautious, telling reporters
he'd support Tillerson's nomination when "pigs fly," though an aide to
the former presidential candidate later walked back that comment.

On the president-elect's use of Twitter as his means of issuing policy statements, the Delaware senator was less nuanced.

"I raised with Mr. Tillerson my grave concerns
that if President Trump doesn't rely on his secretary of state [and]
secretary of defense, and conducts his own foreign policy in 3 a.m.
Twitter wars, that we may end up in a real war," he said.